Trump hampering U.S. Postal Service to ‘undermine a federal election,’ N.J. says in lawsuit

New Jersey and a handful of other states and local governments sued the U.S. Postal Service Tuesday, accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of deliberately hampering the agency “to undermine a federal election.”

The lawsuit asks the court to undo recent changes accused of slowing delivery nationwide, including the removal of sorting machines, collection boxes and reduction in overtime.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said last week he would stop many of those controversial policies, but state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal concluded only a lawsuit could ensure the agency would be ready for a surge in mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The postal service’s “dramatic changes threaten to disenfranchise voters,” Grewal said in a statement, while also hurting “vulnerable citizens” who “rely on the mail for prescription drugs and other things that help them survive.”

Tuesday’s complaint targeted Trump, DeJoy and the postal service. A spokesman for the agency declined comment on the lawsuit but pointed to a recent postal service statement saying they have “more than enough capacity to handle election mail volume” and that removing collection boxes is “decades-old protocol.”

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